I 

■nxs 



vN». 



CUB j^. 



TRIAL OF F. A. DOCKRAY, 



SPEECH 



OF 



yX«^ 



HON. S. B. OONOVER, 



OF FLORIDA, 



IX THE 



UNITED STATES SENATE 



JUNE 33, 1874. 







WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
Ic74. 






Jlxch- 



7uM.(]UJ> ^■ 



.I'iv'OI 




^ 






1 






SPEEC H 



OF 



S. B. GONOVER. 



Mr. CONOVER. I move that the Senate proceed to the coiisidera- 
tiou of the resohitiou ojffered by nie ou the 14th of May last, in refer- 
ence to the arrest, imprisoumeut, and trial of F. A. Dockray, a citizen 
of Florida. 

The motion was agreed to ; and the Senate proceeded to consider 
the following resolution : ' 

Resolved, That the President of the United States is hereby requested, if in his 
.opinion compatible with the public interest, to lay before the Senate the corre- 
spondence between the Government and our consular agents in Cubaand the Spanish 
government in reference to the arrest, imprisonment, and trial of F. A. Dockray, a 
citizen of the United States, for alleged political offenses committed in Cuba. 

Mr. CONOVER. Mr. President, there is nothing so peculiar in the 
conduct pursued bj' the Spanish authorities in Cuba toward Mr. 
Dockray that alone would have led me, a« a representative of the 
State of which he is a citizen, to move the resolution relative to 
him. His case, unfortunately, is not singular. We have been uia4e 
too familiar in the past with arbitrary arrests, military trials, and 
illegal executions of American citizens by those who have Reld des- 
potic authority in the Island of Cuba to be surprised by any new 
arrest. I am \Vell satisfied that the executive department has been 
mindful of Mr. Dockray's claim upon its protection, and that all 
proper steps to obtain for him that kind of trial and those safe- 
guards of liberty which are guaranteed to him by the treaty be- 
tween the United States and Spain have been taken. 

Had Mr. Dockray been arrested in any one of the European king- 
doms, charged with an offense against its sovereignty, I should have 
presented my application for governmental interference in his behalf 
to the Executive only, cfmfident that the nation by whose authority 
he was arrested would concede to him a fair trial before impartial 
judges, and all proper means of defense; but when I recur to the 
modes of proceeding which have in Cuba supplanted judicial inijuiry 
and deliberate, honest judgments; when I consider who it is tliaf 
governs in the island, that armed mobs overaAve captains-general an«l 
force capital convictions by the terror with which they inspire those 



who sit to try the accused, I cannot allow this session to pass with- 
ont an effort to have the Executive action morally strengthened by 
such a manifestation of the sentiment of this hranch of the legisla- 
tive hody as will indicate to the Spaniards in Cuba, whether they be 
the lawful rulers or the lawless power behind and above them, that 
the people of the United States will brook no further outrages such 
as they have hitherto allowed to x)ass unrequited and unavenged. 

The j)assage of the resolution will, I think, obtain for the Senate 
information which will enable this body and the people of the United 
States to learn on what pretexts American citizens are arrested and 
detained without trial, secluded in hlthy dungeons, and subjected to 
all the outrageous cruelties that have become the fixed rule in Cuba. 

And now that the Senate is considering this single case, and its 
attention is called to the dangers which menace the citizen of the 
United States whose presence in Cuba attracts to him the suspicion 
of the Spanish authorities, and the dangers to which he is exposed 
when accused of comj^licity with the Cuban revolutionists, it is not 
inappropriate to consider further whether the United States should 
longer refrain from expressing in some suitable and proper form its 
sympathy with those who are struggling to overthrow Spanish rule 
in the island, or, should it be deemed contrary to our duty as a nation 
to make a solemn jjublic declaration of those sentiments which it 
may be assumed our people individually entertain in favor of the 
Cuban patriots, whether we should not extend to them that measure 
of support which their struggle will derive from a recognition by the 
United States of their claim to be regarded as belligerents, and enti- 
tled to the rights and privileges which, in accordance with the usages 
and laws of nations, we may accord to them as such.. 

The government of Cuba is a despotism, the ca])tain-general having 
by the royal decree of 1825 the same powers possessed by a military 
commander where military law exists ; superadded to that the x^ower 
of banishment, confiscation, and imprisonment without trial, and the 
right to impose taxes without being accountable for the taxes col- 
lected. 

I read from the decree : 

His Majesty the King, our Lord, desiring to obviate the inconvenience which 
might result in extraordinary cases from division of command and from the inter- 
ferences of powers and prerogatives of the respective officers ; for the important end 
of preserving in that precious island (Cuba) his legitimate sovereign authority and 
the public tranquillity through proper means, has resolved, in accordance with the 
opinion of his council of ministers, to give to your excellency the fullest authority, 
bestowing upon you all the powers which by the royal ordinances are granted to 
the governors of besieged cities. In consequence of this, His Majesty gives to your 
excellency the most ample and unbounded power not only to send away from the 
island any persons in office, whatever be their occupation, rank, class, or condition, 
whose continuance therein your excellency may deem injurious, or whose conduct, 



public or privati', niuy alnnn you, roplacinc: them with pt-rsons faithful to Ilis 
M^josty and (U-serviu;; of all the cuuti<Unoo of your excflli-ucy, hut also to su8p«'U«l 
the execution of any onler whatsoevei- or any general provision made concerning any 
branch of the administration n.s your excellency' may think most suitable to th'' 
royal 8ei"\*ice. 

The natives are entirely excluded from ottiee and viewed as ene- 
mies; " driven from all protitablo occnpations in order to make roonj 
for Enropeans; molested in the enjoyment of their property ; and 
obli<;cd, in order to obtain a precarious personal security, constantly 
to make presents and pay blackmail to the agents of the govern- 
ment." The taxes imposed and carried away from the island annu- 
ally are about §35,000,000. 

I quote from reliable authority : 

The amount of taxes collected in 1866 by the Spanish government was 3^,806.382. 
As we have uo later official reports, wo estimate that, with the new taxes imposed 
in 1867. the public revenues In 1868 uuist have amounted to $35,000,000. About 
fl2,000,000 of this amoiuit is derived from the custom-house, §2,000,000 from the 
goveniujeut lottery, 111,000,000 from tax upon the productions of the soil, and tlw> 
balance from taxes on trade and other .sources. To this amount there can be added 
from tifteeu to twenty million dollars more, which the people paj' in fraudulent ex- 
actions and contributions. 

The goveiiiment of Madrid has been for the last t«n years receiving from Cul)a 
from five to six millions anuually, called the ultra-marine surplus, and it has mad** 
Cuba pay the expense of the peuitentiars- of Fernando Po, off the coast of Afiica, 
which costs not less than 8200,000 a year. 

Cuba al.so paid the expenses incurred ^y the Mexican expedition in 1863, which 
-amonnted to §10,000,000, and of the war with San Domingo, which amDunted to , 
about 122.000,000. 

None of this money is used for public works, schools, ho.si)itals, or 
sanitary regulations, and money.'^ extorted from private citizens os- 
tensibly for these pniiioses have been appropriated and carried away 
from the island. These operations have led to several efforts for 
freedom, commencing at the time the South American republics re- 
volted; all of which have been failures up to the present revolution, 
which began in 18(38. In 1844 military means were set to work to 
suppress an alleged conspiracy. The parties accused were rich, free 
colored men, who were put to death and their jiroperty confiscated ; 
"their lives taken by wholesale on the scaffold, while not a few of 
them died under the lash, which was freely and mercile.s.sly used to 
compel them to confession." All efforts to obtain reform and all pe- 
titions to the Throne proved failures, owing to the influence of the 
Spaniards in the island. 

Leading Cubans desire the al)olition of slavery. The ISpaniards 
desire to perpetuate it and to increase the number of laborers in bond- 
age by th<' introduction of coolies and African ai)prenti(«'s, which 
furnish an additional reason for the hostility of the Spaniards to the 
native Cubans, notwithstanding the despotic jwwer of the captain- 
general is bad enough. 



6 

I propose now to sliow that Spain is utterly powerless to govern 
in Cuba, and exercises no control except such as is agreeable to the 
volunteers. 

Since the commencement of the revolution the " volunteers " have 
completely defied both the captain-general and the home govern- 
ment. They drove out General Dulce and treated the Spanish min- 
ister wlio came to the island with contempt, and boldly declared that 
they would not obey any decree of the home government which did 
not suit them. We have the highest authority that these evils exist 
in speeches of leading republican members of the Spanish Cortes 
in the presence of the ministers, and not by them refuted. Senor 
Quintero on one occasion said, in reply to a remark of the colonial 
minister : 

I have no objection to reply tliat I fully recognize the services rendered by the 
Havana volunteers so far as regards the murders committed at the Caf6 del Louvre 
and elsewhere, as also in expelling and sending back hither General Dulce ; as I 
am thoroughly well aware of the ignominy heaped upon the Spanish go vernment for 
suffering such an attack upon its dignity. If there had been any sense of decorum 
in the government General Dulce would have returned with a squadron at his 
back strong enough to force him upon these rebels, for in plain truth the real Cuban 
rebels are the slaver volunteers of Havana. 

Senor Benot said in a debate in the Cortes : 

"What have I not to fear, when under the name of love for Spain they send our 
captain-general back to us again ? Spain does not govern in Cuba, for if she did she 
would not suffer innocent children to be shot down as they have been. Most of you, 
my lords, are fathers. Picture to yourselves in your mind's eye your sons, being 
absent from the university of Havana in consequence of the absence of a professor, 
going in a spirit of boyish light-heartedness to a neighboring cemetery to play. 
Imagine, for this irreverence and a certain want of confidence that existed in the 
authorities, a ferocious and riotous mob taking your son's prisoners, subjecting 
them to a council of war, accusing them falsely of injuring the tombs whose 
glass fronts still remain intact ! Imagine again the council of war acquitting 
them, and this savage rabble, worked up to a pitch of paroxysm at human blood 
being denied them, subjecting your innocent sons, after they had been acquitted, to 
another council of war ; and there at the point of the bayonet, and under the fears 
inspired by the howls of these blood-thirsty hyenas there condemning eight of your 
sons to death and the rest to the common gaol ! Authorities in the Havana have 
ceased to exist since the rising has thrown into prison those that were in power ; 
and thousands upon thousands of fierce, lawless men, with dire ferocity necessary 
to murder your sons unrestrained by law, present, indeed, a fearful picture ! But 
you can hardly even yet form a just idea of this savage scene. The children num- 
bered forty-four, and the second council of war ordered them to draw lots who 
should die ; and among the others it fell to the lot of two brothers, and the stony 
hearts of the judges even, thinking it had to deprive the father at one blow of both 
his sons, pardoned one of them ; but in order that the arithmetical operation should 
remain correct and the due number of victims be retained, they substituted for the 
pardoned boy another, because he happened to be somewhat older than the rest, 
without thinking or caring that they were breaking the heart of another father by 
murdering his innocent son — so innocent indeed that he had not been in Havana on 
the day of the alleged demolition of the [tombs. What should you say, O upright 



8onatoi'8, who have grown gray in tho ailministration of justice, if one of yonr sons 
had bt'eu comlemned to death and shot like a dog for tlie fearful uriuio of being a 
little older tlian his uufortuuat« companions ? This crime, then, incredible as it is 
and unexampled in the uuuals of history, remains still unpunished. * ♦ * And 
yet the government tells us that crime is proscribeti, while this is known to the 
whole woiid ! Would to God that the bitter tale were hidden from the nations of 
the earth ! I assure you, mj- lords, that I enter on the discussion of the colonial 
question with fear, for it honlties me to have to pick my way over governmental 
robberies, judicial murders, and the usurpation of psirliamentary jwwers. * ■• * 
Cuba is gro^viug under the scourge of arbitrary power. There is no law, no code, 
no constitution ; tho privileges of modem law are trampled in the dust, and the 
ancient laws are disregarded. Childreu are immolated; judgment is parsed on the 
dea^l ; the innocent suffer for the guilty ; human ears ai-e filed and eaten ; the only 
power is brute force, the vile greed of bad officials, and the infamy of pirates, 
tyranta, and slavers. 

Similar utterances were made at divers periods by other distin- 
guished members of the Cortes. Senor Payela. in speaking of the pur- 
poses of the revolution, said : 

They wish to preserve slaveiy to enable them to continue building up fortunes 
with the slave trade ; they hate freedom because it is an impeilinent informer of all 
the batl tricks which they have been accustomed to employ in certain mercantile 
transactions. 

Senor Garrido also said on a similar occasion, in 1872 : 

You say you want twelve thousand more men to crush the Cuban insurrection ; 
but this insurrection has alreatly existed four years, and now you come and tell us 
that you want twelve thousand men to subdue it. This besides the lifty thousand 
or more that you have sent already ! Ah ! what you must do with Cuba is not to 
send twelve thousand more men from Spain, but send back from Cuba hither the 
twelve thousand vultui'es which are devouring it ; what you must do with Cuba is 
to send her liberty and a great deal of it, because liberty attracts, mollifies, aud ren- 
ders thankful its recipient. Let this liberty be sent thither, and allow th# Cubans 
to govern themselves like the rest of the Spanish provinces. I can tell you that the 
question of Cuba is for yon an insoluble one. You may send your twelve thousand 
men there, as you have sent many times twelve thousand already during the last 
four years, but you will not settle the question for all that. You cry out that you 
must preserve the tenitorial integrity, and it appears that there is a tendency to 
believe that we on our side of the house do not wish to do so ; but that is a mistake. 
"We wish for it aa much as you, and we wish for national unity ; but we also wish for 
liberty, for without liberty there can be no real fatherland ; and the Cubans have 
the same right to administer their island as we have to govern and a<lmiuister our 
provinces aud -local interests. » 

Against tyranny there is always the right of rebellion, and we, who for lifty years 
were always rising against despotism, cannot deny the right of rising to those whom 
we ourselves oppress. Instead of sending twelve thousand men to settle the Cuban 
question, the republican party would settle it by federation, giving tho Cubans the 
liberty we had ourselves ; for if the iusurrectionists cry " death to Spain," it is be- 
cause Spain means to them oppression, tyranny, and plunder. 

On another occasion Senor Payela said : 

I have now to ask the minister of war whether, having already sent seventy- six 
thousand men and the Cuban affair not being nearly at an end yet, he thinks he is 
going to finish the war by sending still more sokliers ? I think not ; and although 



8 

as I do not wisli to raise a storm in the house, and will not speak abont the Havana 
volunteers, I have only to say to his lordship that since he now asks for a conscrip- 
tion of forty thousand men because he thinks the war is coming to a finish, he will 
have to ask for a great many more when it really comes to an end, for he will then 
have to deal with an insurrecti<Mi a great deal more to be feared than the present 
one, namely, an insurrection of the volunteers themselves. The government is ask- 
ing us for soldiers to send to Cuba, as if it really commanded in the island. I can 
tell you, gentlemen, that the power that commands now in Cuba are the volunteers 
of Hava,na ; and they command there because, for some reason which I do not know, 
they fear for their lives and fortunes and they believe it better to think and act for 
themselves in the matter of Cuba. The patriotism of the volunteers only means 
looking after their own interests. The seventy-six thousand men you have already 
sent have not sufficed to finish the war, nor wiU the twelve, fourteen, or even twenty 
thousand more you may send, because the insurrectionists are much more important 
than you think, and the volunteers are of more importance still. The proof of this 
is that we send them generals and they send them back to us again. 

The Spanisli government has hitherto in its communications with 
foreign governments characterized the efforts of the Cubans as the 
acts of outlaws and them as banditti, without arms, money, or or- 
gauized government, led by a few disaffected reckless adventurers, 
and that the most populous and important parts of the island are 
free from war and whose population is quiet and loyal ; that they 
have not been able to establish themselves at any important point on 
the coast, but are held within the mountain wilderness where they 
carry on a mere guerrilla and predatory warfare. The sentiment of 
the native Cubans may be inferred from what was stated by General 
Concha in 1852 when he was in command in Cuba. I read from his se- 
cret circular published in the New York Herald of May 2, 1874. It is 
fitly introduced here to show how he understood the sentiment of the 
natives, audit also marks the character of the man and the measures of 
oppression which he may be expected to resort to. It must be ob- 
served that this circular was issued secretly, and at a time when 
there was no hostile force on the island ; it is as follows : 

[Secret circular.] 
Captain General of the Ever-faithful Island of Cuba : 

■This government being well aware that the traitorous enemies of Ser Majesty, 
encouraged by the magnanimous indulgence with which until now the queen has 
' treated them, and secretly protected by the new Administration of theTJnited States, 
are projecting an invasion of this island in considerable numbers, and convinced 
at the same time of the necessity of putting down with a strong hand the revolu- 
tionary tendencies of the natives of the country, I order, under the sanction of the 
supreme government, that, in addition to the decrees communicated to you on the 
3d of May and the 15th and 30th of July of this year, you will execute without delay 
or consideration of any kind the following precautionary measures : 

First. At the first news of the disembarkation of pirates you will reiterate the 
order of the 13th of May about confining to barracks the forces at the disposal of 
the government in that place, placing them under arms and arranging the inactive 
classes of the police, firemen, militia, and enrolled sailors, and will also form unat- 
tached companies of all the young men and Spanish shop-keepers, in which the na- 



tives who are known to be well disposed toward the just cause of Her Majesty 
may be admitted. 

Second. iSimultaneously, without loss of time, and using armed force if it be neces- 
sary, you will have conveyed to the government house the principal Creoles for- 
merly designated in the list sent by you to this superior government as influential 
persons on account of their knowlodgo, riches, and revolutionary spirit. When 
gathered together there you will make them sign a manifest in conformity with the 
form I sent you on the 30th of last July. You will then order the inimo<liato pub- 
lication of such manifest, taking care to add to the general otiter of lives and prop- 
erties made there in the particular guarantee of all that each one may own accord- 
ing to your own judgment. 

Third. Aware as this government is that it can only count upon the adhesion of 
Spaniards and of commercial men, and also persuaded at the same time that all the 
Creoles are enemies, or at least indifferent to the triumph of the sacred cause of Her 
Majesty, and that in the end their means ^vill go to serve traitors and revolutionists, 
you will collect from said gathering of Creoles all the readj" money which thej'may 
have, as a special and individual offering of the number which may have before 
signed the manifest. 

Fourth. Taking into consideration the present penury of Her Majesty's revenues, 
in consequence of great military expenditui-es which the govermnent has been 
obliged to raise because of the disaffection of the sons of this country, I authorize 
you, in the name of Her Majesty, in case of need, to exact from the Spaniards and 
commercial people, as a forced loan also, bearing 6 per cent, interest, any sum up to 
#2,000, 000 to sustain the war. And as it is not just that these peojile should be the 
first to be ruined on accoimtof theii- loyaltj^ they \vill be given by this government 
local bonds or coupons, emitted on the usual terms in such cases, which you will 
order to be signed and guaranteed jointly and separately by all the Creoles who may 
compose the meeting spoken of in the second article. 

Fifth. To secure the execution of the preceding measure you will order a guard 
t« take in custody and watch the said junta of Creoles, so that none of them, under 
any pretext whatever, may leave the place designated by you as general headquar- 
ters. Said guard shall have for ostensible object that of protecting the Creoles from 
the vengeance of their countrymen, and therefore you will treat them apparently 
with the greatest consideration, trying to make them understand, if it is possible, 
that all this is done for their good and personal safety. 

Sixth. As it may be necessary for you to move to several places in your jurisdic- 
tion, according to the fortunes of war, in no case will you leave behind the before 
named Creoles, but will take them with you to all i)laces so as to not lose the moral 
force which their apparent co-operation will give to the government, preventing at 
the same time any use which the enemies of the crown might make of them. 

Seventh. The disaffection of the natives being so marked that undoubtedly some 
of the above-mentioned Creoles will make great efforts to mock our vigilance and 
desert from the side of the government, you wHl suppress with a severe hand any 
attempt of this nature, or any expression of discontent, by means of previous gov- 
ernment measures ; and in case you esteem it necessary to inflict exemplary pun- 
ishment, so as to impose respect and absolute submission, you will shoot {posarpor 
las armos) one or more of them, being sure to execute the sentence when you are 
distant from the city and the troops are on the marcli. 

Eighth. And, it being most important for the tiiimiph of the royal cause to make 
sure of all the results which the government proposes to obtain from tliese regula- 
tions in particular, I charge you with the greatest secrecy and the strictest compli- 
ance with them under the severest responsibilities of your life and oflice, requiring 
you to acknowledge the receipt of this communication. 

God guard you many years. 



10 

The Herald comments on this circular as follows : 

All the prominent Cubans in the city who have expressed an opinion upon the 
subject agree that the Spanish government in calling Concha for the fourth time 
to office in Cuba virtually confesses its inability to subdue the insurrection there. 
The patriots here have been in high glee ever since the arrival of the Marquis of 
Havana, whom they look upon as an aged tyrant who represents in himself every 
trait of the Spanish character that is most distasteful to Cubans, and they believe 
that during his present administration Cuba will emancipate herself from thfe 
mother country. The failure of JoveUar and his caU for twenty thousand troops 
were measures that made manifest to the world the weakness of Spain. Also the 
action of Concha, who is taking a money compensation in lieu of drafted men that 
ought to be sent into campaign, shows the kind of pandemonium to which the new 
captain-general admits the island to be reduced. The Cuban newspapers here are 
bringing to light Concha's no very glorious antecedents, and predict the speedy 
abandonment of the island by the Spaniards, and in so doing but reflect the opin- 
ions of their wisest and most experienced leaders. The Cubans are daily on the 
lookout for news of another battle, and point with pride to the fact that General 
Portillo, the pacificator of the Cinco Yillas, has showed himself to be, in Puerto 
Principe, entirely unable to cope with the astute and intrepid Maximo G-omez. 

Mr. President, if he correctly expressed the sentiments of the native 
population in 1852, we have every reason to suppose that the friendly 
feeling in Cuba for Spain, if any, has not increased, when we find that 
so many causes for discontent have accumulated since. In this con- 
nection we cannot overlook the position of the colored population, as 
to which side their sympathies are with. There can be no doubt in 
this regard, since the Cuban government has decreed the emancipa- 
tion of all slaves in the island. The strength of the revolution is in 
the unanimity of that portion of the population which comprises 
seven-tenths of the whole — the natives. 

The actual results of the Cuban arms must be ascertained, of course, 
not merely by the magnitude of the forces pitted in battle at any one 
time against the Spaniards, the character of their equipments, the 
state of their treasury, or whether or not they are possessed of sea- 
ports and shipping. We must look to the effect produced upon the 
Spanish powers, their losses in battle, and the treasure consumed; 
the data for which we find in public documents and the press of Spain, 
as well as from other reliable sources. Mr. Sickles, in a dispatch to 
Mr. Fish, a year ago, stated that the Spanish government had lost in 
four years sixty thousand men. Senor Payela, we have seen, stated 
the loss at seventy-six thousand, to which is to be added at least twenty- 
five thousand for the past year because of the greater frequency of 
encounters and the greater number of forces employed in them. 

The amount of money levied by Spain in Cuba during the war and 
actually applied is about $100,000,000. Besides that, it is said there 
is a debt of nearly $40,000,000. Money has been obtained by every 
means, ordinary and extraordinary, until their treasury is literally 
bankrupt. General Valmaseda not long ago, when in command, asked 



11 

the home government for the insignificant amount of $12,000,<XlO, 
which was refused him for the reason that '4t had not the money to 
give and its credit was too poor for it to he ahlo to horrow that sum." 

These facts and the recent financial decrees of the captain gen- 
eral show that the means of carrying on the war have l)een exhausted, 
and that there is evidence that Spaiji is no longer able to furnish 
money or men, for the advices from Cuba inform us that General 
Concha has ordered a conscription even among the native Spaniards, 
and has also ordered the organization of a certain number of bat- 
talions of slaves. 

These results have been produced by operations carried on by the 
Cuban commanders, and they are cogent evidence in favor of their 
claims to be considered a belligerent nation. These facts adili'ess 
themselves to the consideration of our Government 'when deciding 
whether it is proper to recoguiae the Cuban government, leaving out 
of question our sympathy with their efforts to establish a ri'))nblic, 
to put an end to slavery, and to do away with the existing injuries 
upon our commerce, irrespective also of our duty to interpose a check 
to the outrageous manner in which the Spanish generals have carried 
on the war. But we canu6t ignore these cogent reasons why we should 
accord to the Cuban revolutionist that moral support to which they 
4iave entitled themselves bj' their military successes : 

First. An independent republic in Cuba instead of the present sys- 
tem of rule there is certainly desirable by the people of the United 
States. 

The abolition of slavery in Cuba is also a matter of the fii*st im- 
portance, and the President has candidly stated to the government 
of Spain that it is a matter which the United States feels a deep interest 
in, and in fact insisted that it was its duty to have put an end to it. 
The diplomatic correspondence is full of the promises of Spain on the 
subject, made to the United States and England; but there has been 
nothing but evasion on the part of Spain. As was stated by Sefior 
Payela in the Cortes, there is a power in Cuba greater than Spain. 
The Spanish volunteers and those who grew rich by the slave trade 
and large slave-owners boldly declare that they will obey no edict of 
emancipation if one should be issued by the Spanish government. 

The manner and conduct of the war and the atrocities perpetrated 
are to be found in a publication entitled ''The Book of Blood," 
wherein it appears that up to 1873 there were twenty-nine hun- 
dred and twenty-seven prisoners put to death in cold blood. This 
statement is made on the authority of the Havana newspapers. It 
is also alleged that more than five thousand have disappeared whose 
fate has never been made known, but no one doul)ts that they 'ike- 
wise perished. A large number have been arrested in civil life, tried 
by court-martial and condemned to death, to imprisonment in penal 



12 

fortresses, or totlie disgraceful punisliment of labor in the chain-gang. 
Among these were some of the most distinguished an^ highly erl u- 
cated inhabitants of the island. The proclamation of Valmasado is 
well remembered, but I will reproduce it here in part, to' show the 
brutality and inhumanity of the Spanish officials in their conduct of 
the war in Cuba : 

First. Every man from tlie age of fifteen years and. upward found away from his 
habitation and does not prove a justifiable motive therefor, will be shot. 

Second. Every habitation not occupied will be burned by the troops. 

Third. Every habitation over which does not float a white flag as a signal that 
its occupants desire peace, will be reduced to ashes. 

"Women that are not living at their own houses or at the house of their relatives, 
will collect near the town of Jiquani or Bayamo, where maintenance will be pro- 
vided. Those who do not present themselves will be conducted forcibly. 

This pronun6iamento called from Mr. Fish, the Secretary of State, the 
following remonstrance, addressed to Mr. Lo]3ez Roberts, under date 

of May 10, 1869 : 

In the interests of Christian civilization and common humanity, I hope that this 
document is a forgery. If it be indeed genuine, the President instructs me in the 
most forcible manner to protest against such a mode of warfare. 

One instance of a trial, and what the coutt-martial was expected to 
do, is found in the order of the captain-general consigning the presi- 
dent and members of the court to prison for two months, for too great 
clemency in sentencing a civilian to six yeaii5' hard labor in the chain- 
gang for seditious language : 

Don Jose Dominiquez, captain of Spanish infantry, was in the village of Veguita 
in the jurisdiction of Colon. On September 27, 1870, he ordered a peaceable man to 
be shot because he suspected him to be an insurgent, and that as soon as he was 
executed his ears should be cut off and his tongue cut out. On the following morn- 
ing he invited three of his friends, brother oflicers, to breakfast, and presented to 
them as a choice dish the ears and tongue of the insurgent, cooked ! His friends 
were horrified, and reported it to the commanding officer. The cannibal was tried 
and condemned to death ; but he was subsequently pardoned by special order of 
the King of Spain, who was thoroughlj'- cognizant of the circumstances of the case, 
and restored him to his command. 

The American people, Mr. President, cannot look upon the struggle 
in Cuba with indiiference. On the one side it is a struggle for life, 
for liberty, for property ; on the other, for subjugation, abject and 
complete. In their declaration promulgated at Manzanillo in Octo- 
ber, 1868, the Cubans state the case thus : 

In arming ourselves against the tjTannical government of Spain, we must, ac- 
cording to precedentin all civilized countries, proclaim before the world the cause 
that impels us to take this step, which, though likely to entail considerable dis- 
turbances upon the present, will insure the happiness of the f ature. 

It is well loiown that Spain governs the Island of Cuba with an iron and blood- 
stained hand. The former holds the latter, deprived of political, civil, and religious 
liberty. Hence the unfortunate Cubans boing illegally prosecuted and thrown into 
exile or executed by military commissions in times of peace ; hence their being 



13 

kept from public meetings ami forbiddi-n to spoak or write on aflairs of state ; heuce 
their remonstrances against the evils that atliict them being looked upon as the pro- 
ceediuga of rebels, from the fact that they are bound to keep silence and obey ; 
hence the never-ending plague of himgry officials from Si)ain t<» dtivour the jiroduct 
of their industry and labor : hence their exclusion from public stations and want 
of opportunity to skill themselves in the art of government ; hence the restrictions to 
whicli public instruction ^vith tliem is subjected, in order to keej) them so ignorant 
as not to be able to know and enforce their rights in any shape or form what- 
ever ; hence the navy and stajiding anny which are kept upon their country at an 
enormous expenditure from their own wealth to make them bend their knees and 
submit their necks to the iron yoke that disgraces them ; hence the grinding tax- 
ation under which they labor and which would make them all perish in misery but 
for the marvelous fertility of their soil. On the other hand, Cuba cannot prosper as 
she ought to, because white immigration, that suits her best, is artfully kept fi"om 
her shores by the Spanish govemment. And as Spain has many a time promised 
us Cubans to respect our rights without having hitherto f ultilled her promises ; as 
she continues to tax us heavily, and by so doing is likely to destroy our wealth ; aa 
we are in danger of losing our property, our lives, and our honor under further 
Spanish domination; as we have reached a depth of degradation utterly revolting to 
manhood ; as gieat nations have sprung from revolt against a srmilar disgrace 
after exhausted pleadings for I'elief ; as we despair of justice from Spain through 
reasoning, and caimot longer live deprived of the rights which other people enjoy, 
we are constrained to appeal to arms to assert our rights in the battle-field, cherish- 
ing the hope that our grievances will bo a sufficient excuse for this last resort to 
redress them, and secure our future welfare. 

To the God of our conscience and to all civilized nations we submit the sincer- 
ity of our purpose. Vengeance does not mislead us, nor is ambition our guide. 
"We onlj- want to be free, and see all men with us equally free as the Creator in- 
, tended mankind to be. Our earnest belief is that all men are brethren. Hence 
our love of toleration, order, and justice in every respect. "We desire the gradual 
abolition of slavery with iudemnificatiou ; we admire universal suffrage, as it in- 
sures the sovereignty of the people ; we demand a religious regard for the inalien- 
able rights of man as the basis of freedom and national greatness. 

For seven years, Mr. President, lias this "appeal to arms" continued. 
Spain has exerted all her power to overcome the resistance to her des- 
potic rule ; but who can say that she is any nearer success than she 
was six years ago ? Nay, is not success less probable now than it was 
when the war first began ? I admit that the question is one of great 
delicacy and should be treated with due regard to a continuance of 
friendly relations with the Spanish government. But all things must 
eventually reach their end. It cannot be expected that the forbear- 
ance of the American Government is to continue forever, or that we 
shall confine our action in the future as in the past to mere diplomatic 
remonstrances. So far from it, I submit that the time has come for 
a policy having in view a speedy pacification of the island. That we 
should quietly regard a struggle almost within sight of our shores, 
characterized by a brutality worthy the most ferocious of the savage 
tribes of our own country, is little creditable to our hunumity. It 
may be true that governments may have nothing to do with senti- 
' ment, but in this case the instincts of humanity unite with statesman- 



14 

like prudence in urging a course wMcli will both tend to put a stop 
to the further prosecution of a bloody strife and to preserve peace 
between the two countries. So long as the war in Cuba continues 
peace with Spain is constantly menaced. No one knows how soon 
the country may be startled and shocked by a second Santiago de Cuba 
massacre ; and so deeply impressed is the public mjnd with the dan- 
ger of a repetition of that terrific butchery that the Government has 
found it necessary to keep a fleet of war vessels within easy reach of 
the Cuban coast at a cost of merely fitting out the fleet of $6,000,000, 
occasioned by the manifest disregard by the Spaniards of our rights 
as a nation and their defiance of our Government. 

No other government situated as we are, with all our sympathies 
pointing in one direction and our interests following the direction of 
our sympathies, could have exhibited to the world in the face of great 
persecution such a spectacle of forbearance. The question to be de- 
termined is as to the nature of the " new departure " to be adopted 
toward Cuba. I am not aware that to accord belligerent rights to 
the Cubans could be construed as an act of hostility to Spain, and 
this, unless indeed the policy of .official remonstrance and delicate 
suggestion which experience has shown to be barren of practical 
results is to continue to mark our treatment of the subject, is the 
least that can be done. Recognition of Cuban independence would 
be far more in consonance with our own history as a nation and far 
more in accord with the genius and spirit of our Government. Ex- 
pressions of sympathy for the success of the Spanish colonies of South 
America struggling to establish their liberty and independence were 
adopted by the House of Representatives in 1821, and in the follow- 
ing year recognition of their independence was voted with extraor- 
dinary unanimity by the same body. In urging this step on Congress 
President Monroe said: 

In proposing this measure it is not contemplated to change thereby in the slight- 
est manner our friendly relations with either of the parties, but to observe in all 
respects as heretofore, should the war be continued, the most perfect neutrality 
between them . Of this friendly disposition an assurance will be given to the govern- 
ment of Spain, to whom it is presumed it will be, as it ought to be, satisfactory. 
The measure is proposed under a thorough conviction that it is in strict accord with 
the law of nations ; that it is just and right as to the parties, and that the United 
States owe it to their station and character in the world, as well as to their essential 
interests to adopt it. 

In the debate on the resolution reported by the Committee on For- 
eign Relations in the House, in March 1822, Mr. Poinsett said : 

Sir, if ever there was an occasion that justified a revolution, that called upon the 
people to recur to first principles, and to seek relief from an abuse of power by an 
appeal to arms, this was one. The revolution of the Spanish colonies did not arise 
from a mere question of abstract right but from actual suffering and grievous 
oppression ; from causes radical and certain though gradual in their operations, 
causes that would have inevitably produced a revolution without the violent crisis 



15 

to which the mother country was exposed and which only accelerated that event. 
It was felt in their government, in the administration of justice, in their agricul- 
ture, in their commerce, and in their pursuit of happiness. Governed by viceroys 
responsible in name, but in fact as arbitrary as the King of Spain liimself , who 
commanded not only the military governors and intendants of provinces but pre- 
sided over the tribunals of justice. And let any one imagine what kind of gov- 
ernment the miserable colonists must have enjoyed under European Spaniards 
vested with such powers and who had nothing to dread but an examination of their 
conduct before a tribunal two thousand leagues from the theater of their injustice. 
The colonist could not even eiyoy the natural advantages by which he was sur- 
rounded. 

This language, Mr. President, was uttered fifty-two years ago, and 
yet, sir, it is as applicable to the character of Spanish rule in Cuba 
to-day as it was when Spanish tyranny drove the South American colo- 
nies to take up arms to redress their grievances. While other nations 
have learned to respect the aspirations of the subjects for a more en- 
larged freedom, Spain remains as imperious and blind in her tyranny 
as when she *' lost Flanders thiough her cruelty." " We have now the 
right," said a member of the Cortes, in speaking of the treatment of the 
Cubans by Spain, " of being held up a« the most inhuman people in all 
civilisation." To me the establishment of a republic in Spain, while 
the effort is made to force upon the Cubans a government by means 
which provoke the abhorence of all Christendom, has more the 
appearance of a solemn mockery than a reality. From having once 
been the most powerful nation of the earth, she has lost her provinces 
oiie by one through oppressive cruelty, and her statesmen of the pres- 
ent day appear to know no better instrument of government or effec- 
tive means of challenging the confidence and affections of their dis- 
tant subjects than the sword and blood, wielded and shed by rapa- 
cious generals and a brutal soldiery. 

"The provinces belonging to this hemisphere are our neighbors," said Mr. Mon- 
roe, and we cannot avoid, if we would, feeling a deep solicitude in their welfare. 

The suspension of our neutrality laws would soon end the contest 
in Cuba. Granting to the struggling Cubans belligerent rights would 
be a step toward the same end, while a recognition of their inde- 
pendence would as certainly be the means of insuring that inde- 
pendence as that effect follows cause. Chili and Peru have already 
extended that recognition, and I am persuaded that a similar act on 
the part of the American Government could not fail of carrying with 
it such moral force as to result in changing the character of the war 
waged by Spain and in restoring peace to the island. 

Sooner or later, Mr. President, will one or the other of these lines 
of policy be adopted, and sooner or later will Spanish domination in 
the Gulf cease. Cuba may not in the life of the present generation 
l)ecome one of the States of the American Union, but that she will 
cease to be a dependency of Spain is inevitable. This catastrophe 



16 

has been hastened by the course of the mother country in persist- 
ently denying to the Cubans "their inborn rights," and by subjecting 
their lives and property to the will of rulers whose rapacity, arro- 
gance, and pride see in those who are not of Spanish blood only ene- 
mies to be plundered and in time to be imprisoned and slain. 

These struggling people have established a government which appeals 
to us for recognition and sympathy, and for one I am prepared to 
take my share of responsibility for the consequences that may follow 
the acknowledgment of the fact. In the case of Texas, after the 
battle of San Jacinto and before- peace had been made with Mexico, 
Mr. Webster said, "That if the people of Texas had established a 
government de facto it was undoubtedly the duty of this Government 
to acknowledge their independence." Of the million and a half of 
people inhabiting the island, it is estimated that thirteen-fifteenths 
are earnest sympathizers with the rebellion, while authentic informa- 
tion shows that the Cuban army numbers more men than General 
Washington was able to concentrate at any one point during the 
whole period of the revolutionary war. Of pure Spanish blood it is 
supposed that there are not exceeding one hundred thousand persons 
in Cuba, and it is from this class of the population that the " volun- 
teers" are made up, and it is through them that Spain expects to 
continue her grasp upon the fairest gem of her West India posses- 
sions. To use the language of a Senator in urging the recognition of 
the South American governments : 

Shall we as a nation stifle all our sympathies in favor of free government to gratify 
the vain-glorious pride of Spain ? If we do, we shall betray the lights and interests 
of republics. Heaven, in giving freedom to us first, made it our primal eldest duty 
to go forth first and acknowledge it in others. Honor and duty call alike upon us 
to perform the rightful mission. The same Providence that gave us success in our 
revolutionary struggle is conducting the other nations of America through bloody 
wars to peace and independence. Our approbation may inspire them with fresh 
confidence and stimulate their love of liberty. 

The commerce of the United States has been injuriously affected by 
the civil war which has existed in Cuba and because of the various 
impositions made upon it by the decrees of the captains-general when 
seeking to obtain the means to meet the extraordinary expenses made 
necessary thereby. The trade of the United States with Cuba amounts 
to about one hundred millions yearly. The State which I have the 
honor in part to represent has been deprived of a commerce which 
formerly furnished employment to many vessels and men and con- 
siderable capital. It was constantly growing and capable o? exten- 
sion. I allude to the exportation of live and cured fis \ t' Cuba, a 
business which has been entirely destroyed by the repeal of the liberal 
system of free trade established in respect to vessels carrying fish to 
Havana by Captain-General Tacon, a man who although of an arbi- 



17 

trary character, acted upon a wise and enliglitened policy in mat- 
ters of trade. 

If we bad free trade with Cuba the ports of Florida would be found 
well situated for interchange of products of Florida and western 
products for those of Cuba. This mode of communication between 
Cuba and the West was formerly used to some extent, but the recent 
construction of railroads connecting the rivers and sea-ports of Florida 
with Louisville, Saint Louis, and Cincinnati has greatly increased the 
means of communication with the island and lessened the cost. The 
Gulf States could furnish Cuba with lumber, live stock, &c., and take 
from it many articles not now imported because of the restriction in 
trade on them imposed by the government of Cuba. The particular 
operation of these restrictions on our commerce and the amount of 
our consequent losses I will not undertake to specify ; they are easily 
ascertained by reference to the reports on the subject made to Con- 
gress by the Secretary of the Treasury. I allude to the subject only 
to show that our x»eoi)le sufler loss by the civil war in Cuba, and that 
they are sensible thereof, and for this and other more potent reasons 
desii'e that our Tjrovernment should take proper and becoming action, 
such as will tend to restore peace and establish a liberal government 
in the island. That such is the public sentiment of Florida appears 
from the declarations made of them by the Legislature of the State ; 
that the people have given expression to their sympathy with the 
Cuban patriots in the most emphatic and positive manner I am able 
to assert. What has tended forcibly to arouse feelings of interest in 
behalf of the Cubans and dislike of Spanish rule in Cuba has been the 
forced emigration to Florida of thousands of native Cubans who fled 
to the United States to escape from the cruel and arbitrary rule which 
exists in their native land. These people were cut off from their 
countrymen who are in arms against Si)ain and had no other refuge 
from death or imprisonment save in voluntary exile ; with them came 
many faithful servants of the colored race, whose stories of tlie wrongs 
and injuries which are inflicted by the military tyrants who hold 
sway in Cuba are such that the colored citizens of Florida are specially 
aflected thereby as well as by the continuance of African slavery in 
Cuba, and they are anxious that the United States should extend some 
aid to those who are fighting in Cuba to procure freedom for all its 
inhabitants without respect to race. So strong is this feeling among 
the colored citizens of Florida that thousands of them would gladly 
give theii- active assistance to the Cubans. 

Could they do so without violating the laws of the country ? At a 
recent period when hostilities with Spain seemed probable, large 
numbers of the colored citizens of Florida consulted together for the 
purpose of tendering their services to the Government to sei've in any 
military force that should be sent to Cuba. The strongest military 
2C 



18 

spirit was displayed among them, and they regret that the oppor- 
tunity they coveted to aid their brethren in Cuba was lost to them. 
Should the occasion ever come when they can be employed in such 
manner I undertake to pledge that their services will be tendered by 
them with the greatest enthusiasm. 

The Cubans who have made their homes in Florida are a peace- 
able, industrious, and law-abiding people; they have established 
branches of industry with which they were familiar, which increases 
the resources of our State and pays to the national Treasury a large 
sum of money annually, more than half of the receipts from all other 
sources of internal revenue in the State. 

I have not confined myself strictly to the subject of the resolution 
which I have offered, because I feel that the safety of American citi- 
zens demands something more than a remedy confined in its opera- 
tion to the redress of any particular injury to a citizen who travels 
to Cuba for business or pleasure, but that the true course for the Gov- 
ernment to pursue is such a one as will secure him perfect protection in 
the future and render the constant repetition of the wrongs inflicted 
impossible. It is therefore relevant to speak of th'e conduct of the 
war in Cuba, its probable termination in favor of Cuban independ- 
ence, and the reasons why we should extend such moral countenance 
and support to the cause with which we cannot but sympathize and 
as our duty as a neutral will permit. 






ADD RESS 



OF THE 



Cuban Charitable Aid Society. 



People of the United States : 

We ask your ganerous sympathy and liberal hand 
for the People of Cuba, heroically struggling for Independence 
from Spanish despotism, in comparison with which the oppres- 
sions of England in 1776 were liberty itself 

Citizens of the Republic — who make the laws — we shall obey 
them ; one of the Nations — we shall respect their usages. But 
believing in the brotherhood of man, we shall never ignore just- 
ice nor prove faithless to Humanity. 

We ask the co-operation of all classes, creeds and parties ; 
restricting none in their liberty of action and utterance, save that, 
in their association with us, they shall not subordinate the cause 
of Cuba to other aims. 

Our purpose is to arouse and concentrate the moral sup- 
port of the nation in behalf of the recognition — by the general 
government — of the Belligerency and Independence of Cuba, 
when reason and facts shall make the demand. 

S 






^^& 



We aspire to see Cuba an independent ally, or one of the 
States of the Republic. We have faith in the success of our 
cause ; but should an inscrutable Providence decree the relapse 
of the Cuban patriots into Despotism, we project a charity for 
this desolate and ruined people, such as has not been more 
deservedly and urgently needed since the Christian era. 

Letters containing donations will be sent to the Treasurer, 
the Hon. Charles A. Dana^ of the New York Sun ; and other 
letters to the President, 45 Liberty St., New York, Box 4950. 

The treasurer and the vice-presidents of the several States 
and Territories appointed by this committee are the only per- 
sons authorised to receive subscriptions of money— which will 
be handed over to the representatives of the Cuban Cause in 
New York, and there our responsibility will cease. 

Donations will be published in the journals, and the donors 
will be made life-members of this society. 

By order of the Executive Committee. 

C. M. CLAY, Fres't. 

HORACE GREELEY, V.-Fres't. 

JOSIAH OAKES, V.-Fres't. 
CHARLES A. DANA, Treasurer. 
S. D. STOCKING, Cor. Sec'y. 

New York, Jan. 28//^, 1870. 



LIBRARY OF CONbKt:>:> 




015 814 087 1 



